What is a cheerful giver?
"In everything I did, I showed you that we must work hard and help the weak. We must remember the words of the Lord Jesus. He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'" (Acts 20:35).
"Honor the Lord with your wealth. Give him the first share of all your crops. Then your storerooms will be so full they can’t hold everything. Your huge jars will spill over with fresh wine" (Proverbs 3:9–10).
"One person gives freely but gets even richer. Another person doesn’t give what they should but gets even poorer. Anyone who gives a lot will succeed. Anyone who renews others will be renewed. People ask for bad things to happen to those who store up grain for themselves. But people ask for God’s blessing on those who are willing to sell" (Proverbs 11:24–26).
A cheerful giver is someone who gives because they truly want to. It gives them joy to give.The apostle Paul tells us that God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). A cheerful giver is someone who joyfully gives to others. They do not give because they have to, but rather, because they genuinely want to give. If you want to be a cheerful giver, there are many things you can do to become one.
The best way we can become a cheerful giver is to follow the example of Jesus. Jesus is the greatest giver, as He died for the bad things we have done. He gave up His entire life for us. By freely giving, helping others, and not withholding blessings from people’s lives, we are following Jesus’ example. When we give, we don’t need to have a bad attitude. Instead, we need to be joyful, happy, and caring when we give.
Paul tells us that whoever gives sparingly will also be given sparingly, and whoever gives generously will also be given generously (2 Corinthians 9:6). What this means is that if we don’t give to others, other people might not help us in our time of need, but if we give generously, others will generously give to us in our time of need. If we are gracious and cheerful in giving, the same kindness will be returned to us (Psalm 112:5). Choose to be cheerful when you are giving and give thanks to Jesus for all that He gave up in order to save us.
